West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee landed at CBI office in Kolkata after two of her ministers, Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, were arrested in the Narada bribery scam.
“The way they have been arrested without due procedure, CBI will have to arrest me also,” the Bengal chief minister reportedly said after she stayed put at the CBI office in Nizam Palace for 45 minutes.
As she stayed at the CBI office, Trinamool supporters swelled outside its premises and stone-throwing incidents were reported. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar later alleged it was “total lawlessness and anarchy” and warned of “repercussions.”
The CBI arrived at the home of Firhad Hakim and arrested him before arresting Trinamool MLA Madan Mitra, minister Subrata Mukherjee and Sovan Chatterjee.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had earlier this month sanctioned action against the four arrested today, though a state assembly Speaker has to clear the prosecution of MLAs. The CBI, skipping the Speaker, approached the Governor instead, in January.
The Governor said he had the authority to grant sanction because they were ministers sworn in by him in 2011.
The Narada bribery scam is about seven Trinamool MPs, four ministers, one MLA and a police officer being bribed by a Delhi journalist in Kolkata. The entire bribe operation was taped.
